Pope Francis says he wants dialogue with China and the only thing he asks in return is for the Catholic Church to be able to operate freely.
The pope told reporters the church “only asks to have freedom to do its work. No other conditions.”
“The Holy See is open to all contacts, because it has true esteem for the Chinese people,” he said.
In remarks to reporters returning to Rome from South Korea on Monday, Francis recounted how he had a front-row seat to history when his Alitalia charter flew through Chinese airspace en route to South Korea.
Traditionally, popes send telegrams of greetings to heads of state when they enter their airspace.
However, this flight marked the first time a pope had flown over China, which severed relations with the Holy See in 1951.
Beijing refused to let St John Paul II’s plane fly overhead when he last visited the Far East, a 1989 trip to South Korea.
The flight on Thursday gave Francis a rare opportunity to reach out to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), albeit from 10,668 meters.
Francis said that he had been in the cockpit chatting with the pilots when the plane was about 10 minutes out of Chinese airspace and it was time to request permission from the air traffic control tower to continue on.
“I was a witness to this,’’ Francis said. “And then the pilot said: ‘And now the telegram goes out.’”
After witnessing that, the pope returned to his seat and prayed.
“I prayed so much for the beautiful and noble Chinese people,” he said.
He said that he would love to visit China: “Absolutely. Tomorrow!’’
Francis sent Xi a similar telegram on Monday heading back to Rome: “I wish to renew to your excellency and your fellow citizens the assurance of my best wishes, as I invoke divine blessings upon your land.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia